Ditch “Busy”

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates

What? Don’t be busy? Isn’t that…well, counter-productive? Not exactly. Think about being busy. You’re rushing around. You’re stressed out. You skip over the details of things. You’re in a race to get one thing done before you quickly move on to the next. Nothing gets your full attention because you’re focused on checking things off a list instead of focused in on real results. Now – consider being productive. What does that look like? Efficiently getting work done, one thing at a time. Having the ability and freedom to be thorough, to look at the details, to make sure the work is done right. The saying goes that 20% of work will equal about 80% productivity – so, focus on the work that is productive, not busy-making!

Progress Does Not Mean Being Busy

Time doesn’t matter. What does matter is how close you come to accomplishing your goals.  It’s about how much progress you make. It’s the difference between, at the end of a long day of work, saying, “I was so busy all day” and “I made a lot of progress today!” You could easily spend all day returning pointless emails. On the other hand, you could tune out the flow of email and put all of your efforts into an important project… see the big difference?

Label Your Tasks

Call them what they are. Is a task crucial or is it something you can totally put on the back burner? If it’s a back burner kind of a task, put it on the back burner until it becomes crucial. Deal only with the crucial tasks each day. Turn up the flame and pay close attention to what you’re crafting. Call small tasks small and big tasks big. By organizing your tasks like this, you can get a whole lot more of the important work done each day.

Know Your Emotions

One way to tell if you’re feeling busy or productive is to pay close attention to your emotions. Your emotions will guide you, if you let them. Busy emotions feel like this: feeling scattered, overwhelmed, anxious and like you can’t catch up. Productive emotions feel like this: being creative, being still and focused, feeling good about the work you’re doing and engaging with others in meaningful ways.

Key Takeaway for Everyone:
Lifestyle design is all about maximizing the work you do and getting the best ROI for it. Don’t spend your days busy – it wastes your time. Spend your days producing and being productive. Pay attention to your tasks, do the crucial stuff and tap into your emotions to guide you toward what matters most.

Key Takeaway for Real Estate Investors:
Real estate has tons of small details, doesn’t it? When you’re looking into a property or considering a deal, it’s all too easy to get caught up in all of those little details and lose sight of the big picture. Take a step back and only work on the stuff that really helps you get closer to what you want. Prioritize your tasks and keep moving forward.

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